As in the case with any other country, you need to start acquaintance with Oman by studying his kitchen. Despite the fact that the culinary traditions of the countries of the Middle East are similar to each other and known to the whole world, a trip to this sultanate gives an opportunity to assess the features and advantages of its cuisine. Here you can feel how it was influenced by the climate and the neighborhood with Africa and India.
Features of Oman cuisine
As in the case with any other country, you need to start acquaintance with Oman by studying his kitchen. Despite the fact that the culinary traditions of the countries of the Middle East are similar to each other and known to the whole world, a trip to this sultanate gives an opportunity to assess the features and advantages of its cuisine. Here you can feel how it was influenced by the climate and the neighborhood with Africa and India.
Features of Oman cuisine
Culinary traditions of the Sultanate were formed under the influence of natural and climatic conditions, so they are distinguished by their simplicity and originality. For many centuries Omanis learned to compensate for a small assortment of products with a variety of techniques for their preparation and an abundance of spices. Now that the import is established with Asia and Europe, the local, Asian and European culinary traditions are intertwined harmoniously in the kitchen of Oman.
Traveling to different regions of the Sultanate, you can see how the same dish is prepared in different ways. But still the basis of most local dishes is boiled meat, rice, vegetables and curry. Unlike other countries in the Middle East, Oman's kitchen has a place for soups that are cooked on the basis of chicken, lamb and vegetables. Surprisingly, Omani almost do not eat eggs, but they are happy to cook hyena meat.
Meat dishes
The main component of most national Omani dishes is lamb, although beef is also in high esteem here. Meat is prepared on coals, rocks and spit. For example, to prepare a traditional dish of cuisine of Oman, shuya, dig a hole in which a small fire is bred and pieces of mutton are fried on its coals.
From other dishes here you can taste meat:
- chopped "macadid";
- fried on the stones of "al-mudbi";
- fried on a spit "bear";
- with a garnish of rice "lahem kabuli";
- with vegetables "lahem nashf".
According to the traditions of the cuisine of Oman, the vegetable is always served with salted salted vegetables, boiled lentils in tomato paste "dal", white dengu peas, rice, fried onions and other types of garnish. All meat dishes are generously flavored with cardamom, saffron and such little-known spices as zatar and lymun gaff.
Here you can also taste the dishes that are common in Turkey, Egypt and other eastern countries. Among them are shish kebab "tikka", "shish-kebab", chick-pebble "hummus" and spaghetti "mutabbal".
Fish dishes in Oman's kitchen
In the southern and south-eastern regions of the country, located on the coast of the Arabian Sea, fish and seafood are popular. They are also prepared in a variety of ways with the addition of aromatic spices and spices.
Traditional dishes of Oman's cuisine are fish:
- dried lakham;
- fried on coals "female flesh";
- with a vegetable sauce "salauna samak";
- dried shark meat "uaal";
- soup from dried shark meat "shorbat uaal".
They are served with boiled rice, vegetable salad "fijl" and onion-lemon sauce "Mausura".
Bread and bakery
While visiting local residents, you can see that they have great respect for the bread, which is known here as "hubs". It is also prepared according to several recipes, so it can be fruity and fresh, usual round or thin as lavash. In the modern kitchen of Oman you can find recipes for the preparation of such types of hubs as:
- traditional round bread "rhal";
- Arab Hubs Libnani;
- fresh Indian "Hubs Hindi";
- holiday cakes "kram";
- large thin cakes "hubs tannur";
- lavash "tannur" and "burrata".
Bread can also be used as a basis for making sweets. It is impregnated with honey, stuffed with candied fruits, fish and chicken, and also curled in the form of a spoon and eaten them with gravy.
Desserts in the kitchen of Oman
Despite the harsh climate and the dictates of the desert, the date palm tree has managed to take root in the country. It is her fruit that is the basis of most desserts in the kitchen of Oman. Local residents even with a joke claim that a woman who does not know how to come up with a new dish from dates is a bad hostess.
In addition to all possible variations of date desserts, it is possible to eat halva chalvois and kozinaks "kyshshat sabal" in the country.
Beverages
Any feast in this country ends with drinking strong brewed unsweetened coffee "kahua". Here it is served in small cups, which are also added cardamom, grinded dates bones and a few drops of rose water. In addition to coffee, in the kitchen of Oman there is a place for tea, which is also drunk with milk, mint, rose water and ginger. Tea, or shai, is considered to be a drink of hospitality. In Oman you can try salted buttermilk, yoghurt and soft drinks.
Despite the absence of strict restrictions, the inhabitants of the country very rarely consume alcohol. Tourists can buy it in hotels or order in a large restaurant.
Where to try the national cuisine of Oman?
In small towns and villages it is difficult to find an institution specializing in traditional cuisine. At best, one or two dishes of Oman's national cuisine can be presented in their menu. The fact is that most local chefs have Indian roots, so they cook mainly Indian dishes. To appreciate the diversity of Oman cuisine, you need to visit the big cities, where there is a large selection of specialized restaurants. For example, in the establishments of the network "Bin Ateeq" you can taste national dishes of Oman cuisine in traditional surroundings, sitting on cushions on the floor.
In the country there are many restaurants of Chinese, Lebanese, Italian and international cuisine. They can try the dishes familiar to Europeans and order spirits.
Do not forget about the subtleties of local etiquette. National and any other dishes of Oman's cuisine are not accepted to eat or take with the left hand, as it is in Muslim traditions designed for ablutions. Rice is eaten with small pinches. And if, while visiting, you already ate, it should be refused to the owner of the house directly: you need to shake a cup in your hand slightly.